


Day 15 - Out of the Picture

by moonblossom



Series: Pre-Nickels Nickels 30 Day Challenge [15]
Category: Cut & Run - Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux
Genre: Angst, M/M, Memories, Mourning, Sorry Kelly I need to stop making you hurt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-15
Updated: 2014-10-15
Packaged: 2018-02-21 07:42:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2460335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonblossom/pseuds/moonblossom
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He should probably do something with the photo, he's just not sure what...</p>
<p>
  <a href="http://wintergrey.dreamwidth.org/15168.html">Day 15: Photographs</a>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Day 15 - Out of the Picture

With a grunt, Kelly hoisted the box up onto a shelf in the top of the closet. Normally he didn't care one bit that he was the shortest of his friends, but he couldn't deny that every so often a few extra inches would come in handy. Housecleaning was definitely one of those times.

As he was wrangling the box into place, something fluttered down off the shelf onto the carpet. He shoved the box into a corner, to be forgotten about for another six months, and bent absently to pick up the photo. 

It was faded, sun-bleached and creased, but the scene was still painfully vivid in Kelly's memory, and he sank to the ground as his fingers clenched, further crumpling the picture.

He'd taken it with a crappy disposable camera, the day before Nick and Ty had gone missing. He hadn't even had it developed until afterwards, at which point he'd taken to carrying it around with him all the time.

In the photo, Nick, Eli, and Ty were leaning against the side of a Humvee, dusty and exhausted and bogged down with equipment. None of them had noticed Kelly at the time, and to this day he still wasn't sure what had possessed him to take the picture.

Ty had a look of angry concentration on his face, Eli looked lost in thought, and Nick had his mouth parted slightly, as if he was about to say something. Ty and Eli were mostly in shadow, but the sun had hit Nick's face _just so_ , lighting him up under the helmet he hadn't even bothered to remove yet. He was glowing and almost fearsome, like some sort of avenging angel. Kelly rolled his eyes at his own poetic ridiculousness, trying to avoid the sharp pain in his chest.

He'd shoved it up there, out of sight and out of mind, because every time he looked at it, he remembered the way he felt afterwards. The way he felt when he'd been informed that Nick and Ty were MIA. Hollow. Now, looking at it, he felt the same way all over, compounded with the knowledge that even if Nick was safe, if Ty was safe, he'd never be able to see Eli's easy grin again, never be able to hug him again.

He ran his thumb over the creases in the picture, trying to flatten it out. He knew he should probably do _something_ with the picture, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to frame it properly or burn it. Instead, he got up off the floor and just tucked it back up on the shelf.

He sat down heavily on his bed, rubbing his eyes. He wasn't crying, not exactly, but they itched with unshed tears. He desperately wanted to talk to someone right now, just to hear a familiar human voice, vibrant and alive. 

Before he'd even realised what he was doing, his cell phone was dialling Nick. He hadn't even had to think about who to call, it just felt like the most natural thing in the universe.

He blinked and put the phone to his ear just as Nick was picking up. He sounded distracted. Kelly had probably bothered him at work or something. He debated just hanging up, but it was too late now.

"Nick?"

Nick's voice carried through on the other end, clearly apprehensive but trying to hide it. "Something wrong, Kelly?"

Kelly shook his head and then chuckled at himself for responding in a way Nick couldn't actually see. "No, I'm fine. Just... just wanted to say hi."

"Okay then. Hi." Nick sounded bemused and Kelly could see his face in his mind; laughter lines forming around his eyes, lip pinched between his teeth as he tried not to laugh.

"Sorry for bothering you, Nicko. Talk to you later."

"Kels," Nick sighed. "You're never a bother. Unfortunately, I am at work and I should probably get back to it before I piss anyone off. Call me later, okay?"

"You got it." Kelly hit the end call button, the heavy sadness in his chest from earlier gone, replaced with something else he couldn't quite define.

**Author's Note:**

> [The picture in question](http://33.media.tumblr.com/1ac14690fa38093c3c7e8c41dfced4af/tumblr_ndi2dlqt5y1qcpwmwo1_1280.png). Don't worry, I manipulated a still from Generation Kill, I would not have used a photo of actual people in a real combat situation for something like this.


End file.
